Ireland is famous for its tradition of holding EU related referenda. One could expect that this tradition may have some influence on the shape of the Irish party system. However, it would have to be satisfied the condition of high salience of the EU matters for the Irish political arena and for the voters. The aim of this paper is to find out whether the EU related referenda have been contributing to the reconstruction of the Irish party system since the beginning of the 1990s. This influence could come out not only in the way of splitting or integrating various parties, but also by formation of intra-party divisions in campaigns accompanying the referenda, which could result in a long-term disagreement about the EU matters within these parties. From the methodological point of view, it is possible to employ various approaches. First of all, it can be utilized records of the speeches of Irish politicians in media delivered during the campaigns. Secondly, it can be examined whether some new political parties were established as a result of the EU related referenda and which electoral support they achieved in the following years. Thirdly and finally, the changes in patterns of parliamentary party groups (PPG) voting can be observed as an expression of transformed political climate related to the respective referenda.
